


Happy Birthday, Uncle Qrow

by Riggy_Minus



Category: RWBY
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hint of Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28874226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riggy_Minus/pseuds/Riggy_Minus
Summary: Qrow celebrating another year with his family.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Happy Birthday, Uncle Qrow

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday gift for my friend Leo! I'm just sorry it's so late lkdfgjhlkdfjghlkdjfgh
> 
> Art by https://archiveofourown.org/users/transjnpr/pseuds/transjnpr you should check out eir stuff!

The Xiao Long-Branwen-Rose house was quiet as Qrow Branwen approached it; on any other day, he would’ve been alarmed as he silently trudged through the snow to approach the front door, but it was expected that things would be quiet today. Opening the door, he stumbled back a step as two bundles of joy collided with him.

“Uncle Qrow!” Familiar voices chorused. Looking down with a tired smile, Qrow found his nieces giving him a tight hug, one he gladly returned. 

“Hey there, kiddos.” He said softly, placing a hand on each of their heads and ruffling their hair playfully, a small smile on his face. 

“You know, girls, a surprise party works a lot better if you don’t run out to greet your uncle as soon as he gets here.” Looking up, Qrow saw their father peeking in from the kitchen, his favorite outfit given the addition of a rather messy apron, the words “Kiss the Chef” obscured by mishandled frosting. Taiyang gave him a warm smile, looking as relieved as he always did whenever Qrow managed to make it back to their shared home. “Welcome back, Qrow.”

“Thanks, Tai.” He replied, giving him a grateful smile before the man returned to his work in the other room and left Qrow to tend to his nieces. “Let’s get inside and see what you had planned.”

“Come on, Uncle Qrow!” Yang insisted, leading the charge as her sister joined her in dragging him inside. Taking a look at the living room, he felt his smile growing slightly as he took in the surroundings; hanging in the living room was a banner plastered with “Happy Birthday, Uncle Qrow!” though the writing had gotten a bit rushed near the end of it, his name barely squeezed into the end of the banner. A cake was sat on the small table in front of the couch, and he could spy a few small wrapped boxes. 

“All right, all right, I’m coming.” He attempted to assuage them, chuckling helplessly as he was led to the couch, taking a seat as his nieces took one on either side of him. It was hard not to smile, with the two of them so eager for him to have a good time.

Taking a proper look at the cake they’d prepared, he could tell it had been a group project. His name had been haphazardly scribbled in icing by shaky hands, or more likely, many hands fighting for a chance to help out. Thankfully, they hadn’t written the age he was turning, or might’ve started feeling…  _ old _ !

“Happy birthday, Qrow.” His friend said softly as he returned to the room, the apron discarded, though Taiyang’s voice felt heavier when he said it than when either Ruby or Yang had. The older blonde gave him a tired smile, which he returned, and served the cake. Before taking a seat, the blonde then placed a hat on Qrow’s head, earning a halfhearted laugh from the Huntsman. That had been a tradition since Team STRQ experienced its first birthday some months after it had been formed, and apparently even earlier during Taiyang and Summer’s childhoods. 

It wouldn’t have been until the break between that school year and the next that Summer would find out that Qrow and Raven didn’t really have a birthday. Not yet, anyways.

* * *

_ “What do you mean you don’t have a birthday?” Summer’s voice raised slightly as she asked the question, Qrow staring blankly as his team leader tried to process his statement. “You have to have a birthday! You were born, weren’t you?” _

_ “Yeah, but Rae and I didn’t exactly have the sort of childhood where you get to celebrate that sort of stuff, Summer.” He retorted, the brunette’s expression falling at that declaration. Not having intended to make her feel guilty about asking, he scratched the back of his head nervously while trying to reassure her. “Look, it’s okay, I know you’re still… processing stuff, about us, but we don’t mind, really.” _

_ “But… you didn’t have a birthday.” Wait, that was what she was disappointed about? It didn’t seem like a big deal to Qrow, not exactly like there was much that could be done to have a party in a bandit camp. “That’s it!” _

_ Uh oh, Summer was taking on that leader tone she got sometimes, when she was making an over-the-top declaration to the team. “What’s “it”?” He asked warily, eyes narrowing slightly as he shifted a little backwards. Unfortunately, it was too late.  _

_ “Today is going to be your and Raven’s birthday from now on!” Summer declared, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him off towards the dorm so she could announce it to the rest of the team. _

_ “Wait, Summer!” He tried to stop her, but it was too late. She was dead set on it being their birthday, now, and there was nothing he could do about it.  _

* * *

“Happy birthday, Uncle Qrow.” Yang and Ruby exclaimed, having scrambled over the last remaining box before coming to a silent agreement, holding it up for the man. The previous gifts had clearly been chosen out by Taiyang, even if they were presented by his daughters instead, but this one seemed to be different. Qrow could tell by the reverence the pair seemed to hold as they held it out to him, the Huntsman carefully taking it and opening it up. 

Inside was a photograph, in a small, handmade wooden frame. It was from Taiyang and Summer’s ceremony after Ruby had been born, a picture of Qrow holding his youngest niece, bundled in a red blanket, while two and a half year old Yang was clinging to his leg, looking curiously at the camera. Summer and Taiyang behind them, smiling warmly as their eyes drifted more towards each other than the camera. 

“Do you like it?” Ruby asked tentatively, clearly a little nervous. “Dad helped pick it out.”

“He thought that you’d like a picture with the both of us.” Yang added on, not anywhere near as uncertain as her sister, already carrying a confidence that would make Summer proud. 

“I…” Qrow was at a loss for words. After a moment of silence, his nieces waiting for a response, the Huntsman sighed with a smile. Placing it back down, he pulled his nieces into a tight hug. "Of course I do, pipsqueak. I love it."

* * *

“What is that?”

Qrow looked up from the photograph in his hand, the wooden frame now worn from the passage of time and frequent use. Robyn was looking at him, from the other side of the barrier that separated them. Watts was still missing, and Jacques was thankfully preoccupied with a fly or some other nonsense. 

“A gift.” Qrow finally replied, his eyes drifting back down to the picture of his family, before holding it up so she could see it a little clearer. “My nieces gave me this, almost a decade ago.”

“Fisticuffs and the pipsqueak, right?” Robyn asked, earning a dry chuckle from the older man. 

“Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “Yang and Ruby. I think they were going to get me a replacement for this today, before… everything fell apart.”

“Today?” Robyn sounded surprised, but he didn’t really understand why. It wasn’t as though she’d have known, they weren’t exactly friends. At least, they hadn’t been for very long. He respected her, sure, but until a night ago, they hadn’t exactly spoken more than a few words to each other. 

“Yeah. We were planning to spend a day together, maybe send a message to their father if Ironwood had gotten the Amity Tower up and running.” Qrow explained, looking back at the picture before tucking it back into his jacket. “Just my luck we wouldn’t have the chance, right?”

“Hey, don’t say it like that.” Robyn insisted, earning a frown from Qrow. “Look, once we get out of this, we’ll have to make sure that you can get a day off with them. Come on, cheer up! Let me tell you a story about when I met Joanna back when we were still in Atlas.”

“If you want.” He said with a shrug, before turning his attention back to the pin in his other hand, a tired frown on his face. He wasn’t sure if he deserved another day with his family, but he appreciated Robyn’s intent, at least. 


End file.
